Comparison

a+Terminal vs MeterTab

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

a+Terminal

This app provides a privacy-focused SSH terminal for remote machine access on your iPhone. It integrates with tmux and CLI AI coding agents, offering features like push-to-talk dictation and live session monitoring.

Highlights
  • Privacy-first SSH terminal
  • tmux and CLI AI agent integration
  • Push-to-talk dictation
  • Live Activities for session monitoring
  • Dev server port preview
  • Mac screen sharing (VNC)
Features
Read full description

a+Terminal is a privacy-first SSH terminal for working on your own machines from your iPhone — built around tmux and CLI AI coding agents. It's agent-agnostic: run any CLI coding agent, with plug-and-play profiles you can extend yourself. SCROLLING THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Swipes become real mouse-wheel events, so tmux and your agent's output scroll natively, with momentum — no more fighting copy-mode. SPEAK YOUR PROMPTS Push-to-talk dictation inserts straight into the terminal. Recognition runs entirely on your iPhone; audio never leaves the device. NEVER LOSE YOUR SESSION Live Activities and the Dynamic Island show your active sessions at a glance. Tap to jump back in — a+Terminal reconnects and re-attaches your session multiplexer (tmux, zellij, and more) automatically. PREVIEW YOUR DEV SERVER Start a dev server on the machine you're connected to and a+Terminal spots the port — from the URL your framework prints, or from the machine's own listener table. Tap it and the page opens over the SSH connection you already have. It renders in a viewer built for exactly one thing: the single port you forwarded. Every other address is refused, nothing it loads is kept, and it is not a web browser. Reload with a tap, and switch between the mobile and desktop layout to check both. MONITOR YOUR MAC Add a Monitor (VNC) session to watch your own computer's screen sharing right from your phone. Sign in with your macOS account and you land straight on the desktop; pinch to zoom and pan. Pop the screen out into a floating Picture-in-Picture window to keep an eye on it while you use other apps. Turn on Control to tap, drag, and type — enough to unlock a locked Mac and take over. It stays view-only until you do, and it connects only to the machine you enter. (Beta.) ZERO DATA COLLECTION No analytics, no accounts, no crash SDKs, no servers of ours. The App Privacy label says "Data Not Collected" because there is nothing to collect it with. The only network traffic is your own connections to machines you configure. SUPPORT THE APP An optional tip jar lets you support a+Terminal's development. Tips are one-time and unlock nothing — every feature is always available. • ed25519 keys generated on-device, stored in the Keychain (never exportable, never in backups) • Password authentication option, stored in the Keychain only • Trust-on-first-use host key pinning with hard mismatch failures • Sticky Ctrl and C-b (tmux prefix) keys, Esc/Tab/arrows accessory bar • Attach an image or file from your phone over the existing SSH connection • Plug-and-play agent & multiplexer profiles — any CLI agent, tmux, zellij, screen — or define your own, no update required • Multiple simultaneous sessions with server groups • Preview a dev server running on the far end, over the SSH connection you already have — port detection and a single-port viewer • Monitor (VNC): view-only screen sharing for your own Mac, with a floating Picture-in-Picture window and optional touch & keyboard control (beta) • Light, dark, and follow-system themes Privacy Policy: https://aaroncx.github.io/a-plus-terminal/privacy

About

MeterTab

Features
Read full description

MeterTab puts your AI coding budget on your iPhone, Apple Watch, and Home Screen. See at a glance how much of your Claude, Codex, and Cursor budget you have left - before you hit a wall mid-task. WHY METERTAB AI coding assistants burn through 5-hour and weekly limits with no warning. MeterTab turns the usage the tools already log into a live budget you can plan around - synced from the MeterTab Mac app to your iPhone and Watch over your own private iCloud. WHAT YOU GET • Live budget - 5-hour and weekly usage with time-to-reset countdowns. • Answer your agents from anywhere - approve, deny, or pick an option when Claude Code asks, from your Mac, iPhone or Watch. • See what every session is doing - which worktrees are busy, the command in flight, and the agent's own task list. • iPhone & Apple Watch apps, Home Screen & Lock Screen widgets, and a Watch complication - your budget on every wrist and screen. • Multi-provider - Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor in one place. • Claude service status - on the main screen, in Settings, and on your widgets and complication, so an outage never looks like your budget running out. • Per-model cost breakdown - see exactly which models are spending your budget. • Activity heatmap + burn rate - spot your heaviest hours and how fast you are trending. • Every number carries its source - Claude's own figure, measured, or estimated - so you always know what you are reading. • Pay-as-you-go spend too - the API costs your Mac tracks from your own provider keys land here as well. • Speaks your language: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil) and Chinese (Simplified) - with figures formatted for your region. FOR AGENTS: A BUDGET THEY CAN TALK TO MeterTab's Mac app runs a local MCP server, so your own AI agents can ask "how much budget is left?" and throttle themselves - downshift to a cheaper model, or pause - instead of failing halfway through a job. Your iPhone and Watch keep that same budget in your pocket. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No backend. No account required. No data collected. Any keys you give the Mac app stay in its Keychain, on that Mac. Your usage never leaves your devices - iCloud sync uses your own private iCloud database and carries only counts. FREE & PRO Free: the live gauge, threshold notifications, and up to 4 providers. Pro (one-time purchase, covers Mac + iPhone + Watch via Universal Purchase, with a 14-day free trial): the MCP server your agents can query, billing-key exact-dollar spend tracking, iCloud sync, the heatmap, burn rate, unlimited providers, and the iPhone & Watch apps. A NOTE ON ACCURACY Anthropic does not publish exact token limits, so the 5-hour and weekly percentages are estimates: your Mac works them out from its Claude Code logs, and they can differ a few percent from Claude's own usage screen. Calibrating on the Mac anchors them and carries across to here. If you connect your Claude account there, your iPhone and Watch show the exact figures too - every number is tagged so you can tell at a glance which kind you are looking at. MeterTab is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, or Cursor. Product names are used only to describe compatibility.

Screenshots

a+Terminal4 screens
MeterTab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: MeterTab at 3 against a+Terminal's 1. MeterTab also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. a+Terminal sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and MeterTab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

a+Terminal ships an update every 8 days, MeterTab every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
a+Terminal versus MeterTab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametera+TerminalMeterTab
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAaron CharacterPETER DONGO

In-app purchases

3 purchases

a+Terminal

One-time3
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
1 purchases

MeterTab

One-time1
  • MeterTab Pro$19.99

Questions

Is a+Terminal free?
a+Terminal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MeterTab free?
MeterTab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do a+Terminal or MeterTab have ads?
Neither a+Terminal nor MeterTab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, a+Terminal or MeterTab?
a+Terminal ships an update every 8 days, and MeterTab every 6 days. Most recently, a+Terminal was updated on October 6, 2026 and MeterTab on October 15, 2026.

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